Case Study: Microsoft accelerates fixture production with Stratasys F370 3D printing

Microsoft accelerates fixture production in a 6,000-square-foot APC with Stratasys F370

Microsoft, a global technology company, faced the challenge of creating specialized fixtures for hardware reliability testing. These custom tools were traditionally slow to produce by hand, creating a bottleneck that hindered their "Fail Fast" prototyping philosophy and their ability to quickly validate product designs. To address this, they turned to vendor Stratasys and implemented the F370 3D printer.

The solution from Stratasys utilized Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology to rapidly 3D print custom fixtures directly from digital models. This allowed for quick iterations to accommodate design changes and the production of complex geometries. The result was a streamlined testing process with reduced lead times and minimal manual labor. The measurable impact for Microsoft was an accelerated hardware validation cycle, improved accuracy, and stronger support for their innovation-driven philosophy, ultimately reducing time to market.

Microsoft